Berkeley (Calif.) Public Library's downtown Central Library will be closed for two years while the historic 1931 art deco building undergoes renovation and expansion.
A temporary facility housing about half of Central's 400,000-book collection will be located a block and a half from the library in the Judah L. Magnes Museum, reported the October 30 San Francisco Examiner. However, the collection will be unavailable during November while the materials are moved.
Officials said the repairs and expansion are badly needed. "Everything's broken. It doesn't heat well, it is not equipped for computers, and it's too small," Assistant Director Jody Bush told the Examiner. Space in the library will increase from 49,000 square feet to more than 100,000 square feet, and two new wings will be added on the west and south sides. In addition, fundraising efforts are underway to quadruple the number of computers at the library to about 140.
Posted November 9, 1998.